Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 14.005
July 5 , 2004

1) yarmulke and yashmak (Jack Berger)
2) gret; spaklieven and Spackle (Bob Rothstein)
3) zhaleven (Jack Berger)
4) zhaleven (Leon Levitt)
5) zhaleven (Leon T. Rosenberg)
6) zhaleven (Elye Palevsky)
7) zhaleven (Rose Jimenez)
8) Mendele mit yidishe oysiyes (Refoyl Finkel)
9) I.B. Singer (Hesh Jacobs)

Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 4, 2004
From: jsberger@optonline.net
Subject: Re: yarmulke and yashmak

I am interested to know, because of the Turkish connection posited with
regard to yarmulke [Mendele 14.003], whether there is any connection to the
word yashmak?

Jack S. Berger

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: rar@slavic.umass.edu
Subject: gret; spaklieven and Spackle

Re Mechl Asheri's queries in 14.003:

Polish _grat_ means 'equipment, furnishings - especially old and useless
ones'.  In Old Polish it could refer to home furnishings and also to a
daughter's trousseau.  It is said to be derived from Middle High German
_geraete_ 'household equipment, furnishings'.  The connection with clothing,
especially as part of the bride's trousseau, seems to be connected with a
Low German variant _gerade_.

Polish has _szpachlowac'_ and Russian _shpaklevat'_ 'to fill holes with
putty or caulk'; Polish _szpachla_ is a spatula or putty knife.  The source
of the Slavic terms is probably German _Spachtel_ (also _Spatel_) from
Italian _spatola_ 'artist's or pharmacist's spatula'.  "Spackle" was
patented (and the name copyrighted) by the Muralo Company of New Jersey in
1928.  The company's web site says nothing about the origin of the name; the
Oxford English Dictionary suggestions a connection with German _Spachtel_
'putty knife, mastic, filler' and with an obscure (to me) meaning of the
English verb _sparkle_, namely, 'overlay or daub with cement or the like'.
The name has indeed become generic, and the Muralo Company, which was
founded in 1894, filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May 2003 (probably
no connection).

Bob Rothstein

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 4, 2004
From: jsberger@optonline.net
Subject: Re: zhaleven

Khaver Clare [Mendele 14.004] refers to a very clear slavism.

The Russian: zhalovaty'  means 'to have a liking for' or 'to grant' or 'to
bestow.'

A 'zalovok' is a 'locker.'

If you 'zalyeve' something, it means you value it highly, and are not prone
to share it extensively with others.

This correlates quite well with your understanding.

Jack S. Berger

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 4, 2004
From: llevitt151203mi@comcast.net
Subject: Re: zhaleven

Once again a fun word for which there does not seem to be an English
equivalent. It has complex connotations, including "holding back" (when more
would be appropriate), miserliness, sparing (in the sense of "do not spare
any expense"). Your example is an apt one.

the zh in the transliterated spelling puzzles me. I would have spelled it
zaleven, conveying a pure z sound.  A regionalism?

Leon Levitt

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: rosenber@stanford.edu
Subject: Re: zhaleven

The word was commonly used in my childhood, and was almost an exact opposite
to farginen.  The closest I can come to capturing the idiomatic sense in
personal relations was 'begrudge' for zhaleven and not to begrudge (let the
recipient or subject enjoy) for farginen. "Az men fargint im, zahlevet men
nisht."

Leon T. Rosenberg

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: EPalevsky@rivergarden.org
Subject: Re: zhaleven

While "zhaleven" may be used neutrally as "economize" it often means, "to
stint" e.g. "zhaleve nit, gib mit a breyter hant" Don't stint, give
generously.

elye palevsky

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: Rjimi@aol.com
Subject: Re: zhaleven

Zhaleven, I think can be best expressed by the English "begrudge".  If one
gives someone else a 'brakl'  I believe that "er zhalevet mir zu geben a
greseren shtikl".  In any case, it is so difficult to find one word to
translate accurately a feeling from another language, especially Yiddish.

Rose Jimenez

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 5, 2004
From: raphael@cs.uky.edu
Subject: yidish in yidishe oysyes

Concerning Yiddish in Yiddish letters:  More and more computer programs are
able to present Unicode characters accurately, including bidirectional
layout. However, this list should aim at a common denominator.  Not everyone
has the necessary software.  You can look at http://www.uyip.org for
details. Meanwhile, I think anyone who wants to use Yiddish characters
should also use Romanized Yiddish.  The shraymbashinke at
http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/makeyiddish.html can help you do the
conversions.

benegeye yidish mit yidishe oysyes:  a vaksndike tsol kompyuter-programen
kenen shoyn shteln unikod-bukhshtabn pinktlekh, mit beyd-rikhtungdikn
oysshtel arayngerekhnt.  ober di-o post-reshime darf zikh tsiln tsu der
gantser kehile. nit yeder hot dos pasike programvarg.  git a kuk oyf di
protem in http://www.uyip.org.  dervayl, ikh meyn az der velkher vil zikh
banitsn mit yidishe oysyes zol oykh shteln a romanizirung dertsu.  di
shraymbashinke bay http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/makeyiddish.html
ken helfn in ibervandlen di farsheydene kodirungen.

Refoyl Finkel

9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July5, 2000
From: heshblanche@earthlink.net>
Subject: I.B.Singer

Jascha Kessler's story [Mendele 14.004] of his experience with Singer
recalled one in Phila. a number of years ags.

Singer was to speak at the YMHA in Yiddish in the afternoon and in English
in the evening. We went in the afternoon and were delighted with his speech,
language, poise etc. But strangely, during the speech, some English words
crept in and we were puzzled until he explained. He apologized that he had
left the Yiddish text of his speech in New York and was using the English
version(for the evening) simultaneously translating as he went. We were so
impressed that we easily forgave the few slip-ups.

Hesh Jacobs

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 14.005

Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu
Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu